Business this week

The price of carbon emissions fell to a record low after the European Parliament rejected a plan to tackle the massive oversupply of carbon credits being sold on the EU’s Emissions Trading System. The EU wanted to take about 900m tonnes of carbon allowances off the market and reintroduce them in six years when, it was hoped, demand would be stronger. The plan was voted down after some members of the parliament expressed fear it would increase energy costs for consumers. Prices have fallen from €20 ($30) a tonne in 2011 to under €3. See article

Over three years after the European Commission first received formal complaints that Google was abusing its dominant position in online search, a deal seems to have been reached. Google is thought to have agreed to label links to its own services and display links to its competitors more prominently. The settlement will mean that Google should avoid formal charges and heavy fines. But Google’s antitrust woes may not be over. A group of tech firms, including Microsoft, have asked the commission to look at the dominance of Android, Google’s mobile operating system. See article

The price of gold hit a two-year low, falling to $1,322 an ounce on April 15th before recovering slightly. It had reached as high as $1,900 in 2011. Various explanations for the plunge were mooted, from expectations that the pace of money printing in America will slow to fears that crisis-hit euro-zone countries will be forced to offload gold reserves. See article

A bidding war for Sprint Nexel, a telecoms firm, looks in the offing after DISH Network, a cable-television company, made a $25.5 billion bid. The offer improves on the $20.1 billion that SoftBank, a Japanese mobile carrier, bid for the firm last October. See article

Goldman Sachs had a decent first quarter. The bank made a $2.3 billion profit during the first three months of 2013, up by 7% compared with the same period in 2012. The firm’s investment-banking division grew by 36%, posting a $1.6 billion profit, although profits at its equity division fell.

Several other banks also reported first-quarter results. Citigroup’s profits rose by 30% compared with the same period last year to $3.8 billion. JPMorganChase reported a 4% drop in revenue, although profits rose 33% to $6.5 billion after it released funds set aside to cover litigation and loan losses. Revenue at Wells Fargo, meanwhile, fell by 1.4% to $21.3 billion. Profits were up by 22% to $5.2 billion, though, as it managed to curb spending.

Mine control

The final remaining obstacle to Glencore’s $30 billion takeover of Xstrata was removed when China’s antitrust authorities gave the go-ahead for the deal. But the Chinese extracted a price from the Swiss-based mining giants for their consent. The combined firm has been ordered to sell Las Bambas, a mine in Peru, to allay China’s fears that it could wield undue power in copper markets and to supply China with zinc, copper and lead on “reasonable” terms for eight years. Mick Davis, Xstrata’s boss and Glencore’s chief executive designate, who was expected to lead the new firm through the first stages of its merger, is to step down.

The IMF lowered its growth forecasts for nearly all rich countries in its latest economic outlook. The fund said it now expected America to grow by 1.9% in 2013, less than the 2.1% it was predicting in January. It also revised its forecast for the euro zone, predicting a 0.3% contraction in 2013; it had previously forecast a 0.2% contraction. Growth in Britain, meanwhile, was downgraded from 1% to 0.7%. Japan bucked the trend. It had its 2013 forecast upgraded to 1.6% from 1.2%.

EU finance ministers agreed to grant Ireland and Portugal a seven-year extension to pay back their bail-out loans. Ireland’s loans were due to expire this year and Portugal’s in 2014. The deal gives more breathing space to Portugal, in particular, after its Constitutional Court declared that some cuts to public spending, which were a condition of the bail-out, were unlawful.

China’s economy grew more slowly than hoped. Output in the world’s second-largest economy increased by 7.7% in the year to the first quarter, down from 7.9% in the previous three months. Industrial output and retail sales were relatively sluggish. China was hit, among other things, by slow growth in big export markets such as Europe and America. See article

Stale and difficult

Profits at Tesco fell by 51% to £2 billion ($3 billion) in 2012, as Britain’s biggest retailer announced that it is pulling out of America. The firm put the cost of closing its 199 loss-making Fresh & Easy stores at £1 billion. Tesco said it would also write down the value of its British property portfolio. See article